Give your views on the problems pertaining to natural environment.Topic 1. What role does natural environment play in our life? Talking points: 1. Nature and the man's love of it. 2. Man as a constituent part of nature. 3. Pets and plants in our life. Topic 2. Is it a vital necessity to protect natural environment from destruction and pollution today? Talking points: 1. Ill-effects of unrestricted industrialization and the sprawl of large-built areas: a) foul air: b) polluted water; c) noise disturbance; d) overpopulation; e) disfigured landscapes and land pollution. 2. Extermination of wildlife — upsetting of the biological balance: a) destruction of animal habitats; b) removal and destruction of plants and trees; c) unprecedented killing of animals for economic, scientific and individual purposes. Topic 3. What do you know about the measures taken to control environmental pollution and to fight destruction of wildlife? Talking points: 1. International cooperation in environmental protection. 2. Mass media in the fight against pollution and for nature conservation: a) newspaper comments and reviews; b) TV programmes: c) science-popular films. 3. Ecology — the science of how the living things are related to their environment. 4. Voluntary organizations' and individuals' participation in the nature conservation movement.
SPEECH SOUND EXERCISES Unit One [e - æ] Do not open your mouth too wide when articulating the vowel [e], it is a half-open vowel. Open your mouth very wide when pronouncing the vowel [æ]: it is an open vowel (helping to make it open by a spoon-shaped depression in the front part of the tongue). 1. Pronounce the pairs of words and the sentences with the vowels. Observe their length variants: lend — land helping — happen plenty — planned selling — salmon necessary — ational subject — program
1. Harris objected to a slap-up breakfast. 2. The fact is Jed expected the man to be a different personality. 3. Can you imagine anything happening to the salmon? — Yes, I can. [ei — ɛə ] Remember that the nucleus of the diphthong [ei] is Vowel No. 3, which is mid-open and that of the diphthong [ɛə] is an open vowel. Make the nuclei long and very distinct vowels. Make the glides much shorter and indistinct. 2. Pronounce the pairs of words and the sentences with the two diphthongs. Observe their length variants: A. fade — fair railways — rarely shade — share waisted — wearing xaging — airing a mazement — de daring B. 1. Mary declared she had some gravy to spare. 2. It wasn't safe to go downstairs for the remains of the bacon and eggs. 3. On the stairs Mary explained she liked the flavour of the gravy and asked Clare if she had any more to spare. 4. The administration was prepared to overcome all the difficulties and complications. Checked Vowels The vowels sound checked when a slight pause is made between the short stressed vowel and the consonant following it. 3. Read the words and the sentences. Make the vowels traditionally called short, checked in their shorter variant: bricks upper effect push admit pot latticed cooking yet gossip struck touched 1. I admit I touched his pocket. 2. It's a pity it isn't possible to cook the stuff. 3. It was impossible for him to admit he was indifferent to the suggestion to come to Russia much later. [ When pronouncing the consonants make an 'oscal'[5] "(that is show your teeth as if you were going to brush them). Check the interdental position of the tip of the tongue. Prevent the lower lip from touching the upper teeth. 4. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Do not replace the consonants by [f, v], [T, Д] or [s, z]:[6]
A. things — those thanks — this something — other teeth — gather throughout — these overthrow— therefore health — together worth — with [1] 'oscal': оскал (the term was introduced by A.L.Trakhteroff) [1] To prevent the consonants [s, z] from being replaced by [9, d] keep the tip of the tongue at the lower teeth, and not between the teeth, when articulating [s, z]. Make an 'oscal' to check the right position of the tongue for [s, z].
B. 1. But supposing it was something else. 2. It's the biggest thing of this kind. 3. They gathered the odds and ends. 4. The more we peeled the more peel there seemed to be left on. 5. Here was a dish with a new flavour with a taste like nothing else on earth. 6. Therefore our talk was threaded throughout by two motifs. 7. Is this the man with the vegetables? — This is the very man I gather. Aspiration1 Remember that aspiration is the strongest before stressed vowels, especially before long ones; that the consonants should not be aspirated when following [s], like in 'speak, stick, skirt'; that [b, d, g], their voiced counterparts, are never aspirated; they are weak consonants. 5. Read the words and the sentences aspirating the consonants [p, t, k] where necessary: A. Pity top coming encounter, potted dictatorship speaking make B. 1. "Oh, that won't do. You must scrape them." 2. Montmorency had evinced great interest in the proceedings. 3. I encountered a personality entirely different from anything I had expected. The Prevocalic[h] Mind that the consonant [h] should be very weak (in fact it is breathing out a bit of air before the vowel following it). Do not make it too fricative, like the Russian consonant [X]. Remember that it can be dropped when unstressed and following a stressed verb like in 'I ^like (h)er. I ^saw (h)im.' 6. Read the words and the sentences: A. held habit human hands hamper uphill hard Harris behind B. 1. Here was a new dish unlike the old hackneyed things. 2. He will exploit the human heritage stupidly. 3. I hope Harris and Henry are happy now that they don't lag behind and nothing hampers them. The Linking [r] When there is a pause between the two words, the linking [r] should not sound. 7. Read the sentences inserting the linking [r] in the intervocalic position at the junction of words: 1. That'll inspire^Alice.— I'm glad to hearjt. 2. The more^I know her, the more I admire^Ann. — By the way, wherejs she at the moment? — Either in Asia | or in Africa. 3. It was clear to him that those who are engaged in the task could after all be creative. Units Two, Three [i-i:] Mind that Vowel No. 1, [i:], is a diphthongoid: it begins with [i] and then glides to [i:] proper (closer and more front, approaching the Russian [И]). To achieve that first make the opening between the jaws a bit broader keeping your lips neutral and then spreading them, thus making the vowel closer. 1. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Observe their length variants. Make the vowel [i] checked in its shorter length variant: since — seen visit — veal milk — meal quickly — speaking exhibiting — immediately irresistible — inconvenience
В.1. His sister has measles. 2. She didn't seem to believe him. 3. He arrived at Riskin Street to see a sick boy who had caused his mother the inconvenience by falling ill with measles. 4. I candidly mean that for me the name Ernest has always been irresistible. [o: -3:] Mind that though both are mid vowels, [3:] is a mixed (centralized) vowel and [o:] is a back vowel. If your [3:] has, by mistake, the shade of [0:] add to it the colouring of the Russian [3]. 1. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Observe their length variants: small — swirl Walker — worker talk — Turk because — to curse notorious — nervous importance —earnest 1. 1. John Worthing is a character from the play "The Importance of Being Earnest". 2. He saw her and talked to her. She was a small girl in a tweed skirt. 3. The doctor was determined to talk to that notorious person about the circumstances. Palatalization Avoid the palatalization of the consonants 1 before front and mixed vowels. The following ways can be of some use: a) first pronounce the same consonant in a word where it is followed by a back vowel and remember how it sounds; b) then try to preserve the non-pala- talized consonant in the original word where it is followed by a front or mixed vowel by making a temporary pause between the consonant and the vowel. When the tongue gets used to the necessary quality of the consonant, pronounce it without a pause. For example: the word to be pronounced is 'peel'. First pronounce 'paw' (or 'put') and then 'p-eel, p-eel, peel'. 1. Read the words and the sentences: A. first meaning anything ideals girl medical system 'magazine we destined here expensive [1] With the exception of those that should be a bit palatal because they are articulated with a front secondary focus. They are the clear [1], LT, 3); [tf, cfc].
B. 1. Charming day it has been, Miss Fairfax. 2. Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. 3. When people talk to me about the weather, I feel certain they mean something else. 4. He could not help thinking how clear her skin was, with a tiny mole, exactly the colour of her eyes. [η,n - η] Mind that [η] is a backlingual consonant: the very back of the tongue is raised and pressed against the soft palate. That's why do not let the blade or the tip of the tongue touch the upper teeth or the teeth ridge, otherwise either the Russian [H] or the English [n] will sound instead. To avoid the mistakes open your mouth very wide and keep the tip of the tongue at the lower teeth when [rj] is articulated. Though [η] is an o c c 1 u s i v e sonorant, the obstruction is n o t released when it sounds. If it is released with a jerk, the soft palate can rise blocking the passage through the nasal cavity and as a result of this the consonants [k] or [g] can sound after [η]. Remember that in the intervocalic position when -ng is followed by a vowel without any pause: a) in verbal forms and nouns derived from verbs besides [g] the additional consonant [η] should sound. It somewhat differs in its articulation from the basic (main) consonant [η]: first the uvular gets in contact with the back part of the tongue and then the obstruction is released with a jerk and some plosion but the soft palate is kept lowered. So the varianf [rj] is a nasal, occlusive, plosive consonant (sonorant): pinging [xsi In the degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs besides [η] [g] should sound: ^longer [loηgə[], younger [j۸ηg
In the word final position and before a consonant -ng is pronounced [η] but in some words in which -ng is followed by a sonorant, [g] sounds in addition: xEngland [^irjgbnd], hungry [h۸ηgə]. In the letter combinations nk, nc, nx the letter n is pronounced [rj]: uncle [۸ηkl], ink [iηk], anxious [æηkʃəs]. 4. Read the words, the phrases and the sentences: A. among stronger B. skin — skiing darling angry children — chilling stockings English doin — doing frank swinging send in —sending distinct coming out per'sist in — persisting go in for — xgoing for
C. 1. Oh, darling, I do mean something else. 2. Mr. Worthing could not help thinking about his younger brother. 3. Swinging around she asked in angry tone: «There's nothing more, is there?» and he could see the soft beating in her neck. 4. "Stand up children, and say: 'Good morning, Doctor Manson. Thank you for coming."' The infants rose and chanted her ironic bid- ding. [u, u:] Remember that Vowel No. 9 [u:] is a diphthongoid: its beginning is very near in quality to Vowel No. 8 [u], it is a back-advanced close vowel, the broad variant. To make the beginning of the vowel sound that way add to it the colouring of the Russian [bl]. As the vowel goes on, it becomes closer, approaching the Russian [Y] (but the lips should not be strained and protruded). As the vowel proceeds, you should feel your tongue go simultaneously up and backwards. 5. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Observe the length variants of the two vowels. Make the vowel [u] checked in its shorter length variant: A. should — intrude stood — school could — protrude took — suit 'understood— 'twenty- two speculate — ^solitude B. 1. It'll do him a lot of good. 2. That afternoon he went to the school to have a look at the intrusive girl. 3. Are you absolutely sure you couldn't love me then, that there's no music in the name Jack? — No, it produces absolutely no vibrations. It doesn't look good to me at all. [ʃ, ʒ] Remember that both the consonants should be palatal (but not so very palatal as the palatal variant of the similar Russian consonants) in any position in the word and before any vowel because they are always articulated with a front secondary focus. But do not raise the middle of the tongue too high and do not strain the muscles of the tongue too much; make them short. Otherwise they will be in fact replaced by the Russian consonants [Щ] and [ЖЖ] like in «щи, вожжи». 6. Read the words and the sentences: A. shake officious fresh pleasure shiny especially flush provision 1. She flushed. His sharp words were still fresh in her memory. 2. She's sure that Shannon should make provision for his affectionate mother. 3. She said her decision was that he should take measures and find some relations. Units Four, Five [۸-a:] Mind that Vowel No. 10 [۸] is a central open vowel (the narrow variant), a bit less open than the Russian [۸] (which is also a central vowel). Make it checked in its shorter variant. Remember that Vowel No. 5 [a:] is a back-advanced opeti vowel (the broad variant). But it is not advisable to open the mouth too wide while articulating it. The vowel [a:] is the best in quality when pronounced on a low pitch. Mind that it is never checked even in its shortest length variant like in 'ask'. 1. Read the pairs of words and the sentences: A. hut — heart grunt — grant much — March lust — last nuts — nard utter — after B. 1. "Art for Heart's Sake" is a funny story. 2. Margie's grandfather once said the funny thing to her father. 3. The abruptness of his answer proved too much for his aunt's heart. 4. He'd done some constructive thinking since his uncle's last visit.
[əu] Mind that the nucleus of the diphthong is a mixed (centralized) vowel. So do not make it a back vowel like the Russian [O]. It is a mid vowel. So do not make it an o p e n vowel like the Russian [A]. The glide is Vowel No. 8 [u]. It should be extremely short but distinct. The nucleus should be several times as long as the glide. 2. Read the words and the sentences: A. show old cloak don't close radio B. 1. So the following[7] week he noticed that the old man's interest was growing. 2. I've slowed it up and I hope the overall pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory. 3. Margie hopes he won't know how to put it together. It won't be so very bad. [ai — aiə] Take care to make the nucleus a f r o n t-retracted open vowel. Make the nucleus long, much longer than the glide. Do not replace it by Vowel No. 5 [a:], which is an open b a c k-a d v a n c e d vowel. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak |e], in fact, and make it very short. Do not stress it. When pronouncing the combination [ai] + [a] make the nucleus the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than the vowel [a]. 3. Read the pairs of words and the sentences: A. white — wire Friday — prior writer — riot while — violent to tie — entirely eyes — Irish B. 1. "It's an entirely new idea," said the writer. 2. "It's not quite her fault," he said quietly, in a tired tone. 3. The old man was prior in buying the things. [au — аiə] About the nucleus of the diphthong see the instructions given in Ex. 3: it is almost the same as in the diphthong [ai]. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak [o], and make it very short. Do not stress it. When pronouncing the combination [au] + [a] make the nucleus the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than the vowel [a]. Do not insert the unnecessary [w] between the glide and [a]. To avoid [w] do not let the upper and the lower lips be brought together. [au — аuə] About the nucleus of the diphthong see the instructions given in Ex. 3: it is almost the same as in the diphthong [ai]. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak [o], and make it very short. Do not stress it. When pronouncing the combination [au] + [a] make the nucleus the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than the vowel [a]. Do not insert the unnecessary [w] between the glide and [a]. To avoid [w] do not let the upper and the lower lips be brought together. 4. Read the pairs of words and the sentences: how — our town — tower now — towel south — sour thousand — shower b.1. In the south milk quickly gets sour. 2. How I detest that school of ours! 3. Thousand of our people have seen the tower in the south. 4. Now, what about taking a shower? — Yes. Let me fetch our towel. [tʃ, dʒ] Let the second element follow the first immediately tcf prevent you from the mistake of detaching the first element from the second. Strain the muscles of the tongue. Mind that both affricates are always articulated with a front secondary focus; that is they are somewhat palatal in any position in the word: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. But do not raise the middle of the tongue too high so as not to replace it by the Russian [ч]. When the Russian [ч] is quickly followed by the Russian voiced consonants [Б, Д, Г, 3, Ж] something similar to the English [ tʃ, dʒ] sounds: «дочь больна, с плеч долой, ключ забыл». 5. Read the words and the sentences: A. chair picture gee Margie chalk watch juice judge
B. 1. Just fool around with chalk. 2. Gee, Margie seems to have a chill. 3. The teacher of geography just turned the pages of the picture book. [w- v] Mind that [w] is bilabial: it is articulated with both lips. The lips should first be pursed as if ready for a whistle and then quickly spread. Do not start the consonant too early. Otherwise [Y] will sound before [w]. The consonant [v] should be articulated only with the lower lip and the upper teeth: it is labio-dental. 6. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Do not mix up the consonants: A. was — vase word — verb window — vigorous went - vent weak — Vic a warded — adverted B. 1. She was eleven but she understood it was a very old book. 2. It was very funny that instead of moving the way they were supposed to they stood quite still. 3. Elsworth wanted to show him how very hard and how very well he was working. 4. As the weeks went by Swain's visits grew very frequent. [t-d] Mind that the prevocalic voiceless [t] in a stressed syllable should be aspirated and strong whereas the voiced [d] in a similar case should be non-aspirated and weak. 7. Read the pairs of words and the sentences: A. two —do tone — don't Tommy — doctor ton — done take — date tall — dollar B. 1. Today Tommy found a real book. 2. Daddy and Tommy turned back. 3. Did Tom tell them he preferred telebooks? — He did. 4. "I can't do a thing with him," he told the doctor. "He won't take his pineapple juice. He doesn't like it." Units Six, Seven, Eight [o — o: — əu]' Avoid mixing the vowels. Do not make [o:] and [3u] similar by dropping the glide and making the nucleus [3] like [0:] though both are mid-open, [0:] is a very back vowel, while [3] is a mixed (centralized) vowel. Take care not to diphthongize [0:]. Do not mix up Vowel No. 7 [0:] and No. 6 [o]. Though both are back vowels, Vowel No. 6 is much more open than No. 7. The vowel [0:] is never checked even in its shortest length variant like in 'short'. 1. Read the words and the sentences: A. on — all — oh novels — Paul — sofa doctor — door — don't hyNpocrisy — reformer — social often — xorder — xonly B. 1. Oh no, she's not tall. 2. We know Maugham, the short story writer, was the son of a diplomat. 3. In his novels and stories Maugham did not denounce the social order. 4. Her blouse was worn and old. Her face was short, her upper lip short, showing her teeth, her lashes long and dark. [0i] Do not replace the nucleus of the diphthong by the Russian [O]: make it much more open than [O] and long. Make the glide short and weak like a weak [e]. Do not stress it. 2. Read the words and the sentences: A. boy toil pointless noise point oice B. 1. That's his point of view. 2. The young man heard little boys' voices and then another voice crisp and soft. 3. The boy turned out to be a lady with a low voice. [l] Distinguish the 'clear' [l] and the 'dark' [*]. The 'clear' [l] is a bit palatal but do not make it as palatal as the Russian palatal [Л'] like in «Лиза». Mind that in English the 'clear' [1] should sound before any vowel: front, mixed or central and back, whereas in Russian the palatal [Л'] is found only before front and central vowels. So in the word look [1] is palatal ('clear') and in the Russian word лук [Л] should be hard (твердое). But before [j], when preceded by a front vowel, [l] should be very palatal: \will you [\wil ju]. (Cf. \fool you [\fu:t ju:]. The 'dark' [t] should sound at the end of a word and before a consonant. The 'dark' is used despite the following [j] because [l] is preceded by [u:], a back vowel. 3. Read the words and the sentences: A. leave intelligent look deal lady clasping lot original В. 1. Only a lady upstairs, lieutenant, calling me. 2. Lady! It's him I tell you! 3. "Life is a difficult business. Leave me to deal with him," she said clasping her hands. 4. You will protect me, general, will you not? [d] Avoid making [d] strong: it should be a weak consonant. To make it weak do not press the tongue to the teeth ridge too hard using only the very tip of the tongue. Do not aspirate it before a vowel. In the word final position devoice the very end of the consonant but do not make its voiceless part strong or aspirated. Let the voiced part of the final [d] be much longer than its final voiceless part. Do not devoice the final [d] completely like we do in Russian. Do not make the final [d] fully voiced and strong with the addition of an unnecessary vowel [э]. 4. Read the words and the sentences: A. down lady confidence had dared wonder bed mind B. 1. You can't have the cat in bed, Dick. Didn't daddy tell you yesterday? 2. It's a dangerous thing to order the lives of others so I've always hesitated to give advice. 3. Nobody else can do it as you do. You are not afraid of your own destiny. I wish I had your courage.
[z, v]in the Word Final Position Neither devoice the final [z, v] completely nor make them fully voiced. Devoice only the very end of the consonants and let the de- voiced part sound weak. 5. Read the words and the sentences: A. has flings leave adxvise have Steve B. 1.1 have got your dispatches. 2. Leave them alone. You can only guess at the emotions of our neighbours. 3. He forces upon his fellows measures that must alter their manners. Assimilation According to the Place of Obstruction Mind that when an alveolar consonant is followed by the interdental [Ө,ð] it becomes dental. 6. Read the sentences: 1. What was that? — WhaMhen? 2. Is that a reasonable demand? 3. Character in the chin. 4. They are there in the bosom. 5. The fact that you know Spain is very important for me. 6. She didn't let the boys stay in the kitchen. 7. The discovery that there was Celtic blood about this family has excited one who believed that he was a Celt himself. N- ' Loss of Plosion « Mind that when a plosive consonant is immediately followed by noise consonants (both fricative and plosive, voiceless and voiced) it loses plosion. In case of two plosives running (whether within a word or at the junction of words) the first loses plosion, the second does not. Remember that when a plosive consonant is immediately followed by the sonorant [n] or [l] it loses plosion but makes [n] and [l] plosive (we call it 'nasal plosion' and 'lateral plosion'). Sometimes in spelling there are some letters between those representing the plosive and the sonorant but they are not pronounced like in 'modern'. 7. Read the words and the sentences: A. 'Robert Garton let down subtle currant bushes sudden gentleman 8. B. 1. She wants awakening. 2. Do you threaten women? 3. Only a lady, lieutenant, calling me. 4. It heightened their interest. 5. Isn't it reasonable? 6. I begged him to sit down. 7. It gave him confidence.
EXERCISES IN INTONATION SECTION ONE REVIEW OF PART TWO [8]EXERCISES Simple Tunes 1."[9] This exercise is meant to review Intonation Patterns IX and XII. Listen carefully to the following sentences. Mark the stresses and tunes. Listen to the sentences again. Pronounce the unstressed syllables of the pre-head as low as possible. Make the stressed and the unstressed syllables of the head carry the pitch lower, until you come to the last stressed syllable of all, which starts very high and falls right down to the bottom of the voice. Any syllables after the last stressed syllable are said on a very low note. Do not forget to blend the words together. Give a conversational context with the same sentences. Say what attitudes you mean to render. Intonation Pattern IX (LOW PRE-HEAD +) HIGH FALL (+ TAIL)
Intonation Pattern XII (LOW PRE-HEAD +) HIGH HEAD + HIGH FALL (+ TAIL)
Move. I'll see. I did. They shall. They can. Try to. That side. This time. I'm in it. Borrow one. John took it. Wait for them. That was it. You aren't. We're wet. You must tell me. We could trace it. It was all here. This is the best. It isn't steady. I'm not wanted.
I think you'd better ask the others. Henry said he'd wait for us at home. What time do you generally have breakfast? I was held up at the last moment. Which of Shakespeare's plays d'you like best? This exercise is meant to review Intonation Pattern XIII. Listen carefully to the following sentences. Mark the stresses and tunes. Listen to the sentences again. Pronounce the stressed and the unstressed syllables of the high head on the same rather high pitch. The very last stressed syllable starts from a medium to a high pitch. Do not forget to blend the words together. Give a conversational context with the same sentences. Say what attitudes you mean to render.
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u]], singer [xsiηηə].
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